Sunday, September 10, 2006

Seminar... Grreat!

Alhamdulillah, this morning, I've been given the opportunity to attend a seminar on Imam Asy-Syaafi'e by Ustaz Mazlee Malik (UIA lecturer) and Dr Mohd Asri(USM lecturer). Each of thier talk was clear, concise and injected with humor. It was an enjoyable experience..As zack said,"Its good uh.. you get knowledge and entertainment as well".

This seminar has been an eye-opener for most I guess, especially those who have never attended a seminar by Dr Mohd Asri or any other University lecturer from Malaysia who have strong academic background from the Middle East region.

This is due to the fact that many people, myself included, have not been doing their homework when learning from thier ustaz or from various sources. It has been a norm for majority of muslims to accept teachings of thier ustaz blindly without questioning and finding out whether whatever that the ustaz is teaching them is sourced from Al-Quran and Hadith which is agreed upon by most Islamic scholars. This is due to trust but it is a blind one that leads them further away from the true teachings of Islam.

What both the speakers emphasised was that in whatever that we learn which concerns Fiqh and Islam, it is our responsibility to ensure it is sourced from Al-Quran and Hadith "shahih" - agreed upon by most Islamic scholars. This is to ensure that we do not stray from the intended path and in the end become engrossed in practices which are not even taught by Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w) and have no source from Al-Quran. Because at the end of all this, we will be the ones who will face Allah(s.w.t) and we're the ones responsible for our actions.

We must also be open-minded and not assume that only Mazhab Syafie'e is the correct one. In whatever that we read or learn from other Mazhabs and Islamic scholars, if there is strong backing from Al-Quran and Hadith(shahih) then it is up to us to evaluate and accept the knowledge. Even Imam Asy-Syafie'e said never to follow his teachings blindly as it concerns religion and if you find a hadith that is known to be "shahih", then that is also part of his Mazhab. Again, in the end, we will be the ones who will face Allah(s.w.t) and it is up to us.

The best part of the seminar was the Q and A session where many concerns about some questionable practices in our muslim society were answered. For example, tahlil ceremonies, tarekat and zikir in mosques(when the practice started, whether the practice was encouraged), traditional ways of treating illness, believing that the "kokka" tasbih has some sort of power and used as a medium instead of directly believing in Allah(s.w.t), eating diet pills without exercising, just doing supplication, taking "air jampi" or "kismis jampi" without doing any effort to improve ourselves and lots more.

These are some of the things that I've learnt today. I can't elaborate more as my knowledge in these matters is still poor and I'm afraid I may accidently, due to my poor knowledge, add my own thoughts and err. You have to be there to experience yourself then you'll understand. I hope there will be more seminars like this in months and years to come involving speakers such as Dr Mohd Asri, Ustaz Mazlee, Dr Juanda Jaya and Dr Azwira. Speakers who uphold the Sunnah and won't hesitate to dispel any practices which are against the true teachings of Islam as they're only interested to uphold the truth and not uphold favouritism towards themselves.

To end it off, the only way to avoid falling into the wrong path is to enrich ourselves with knowledge. Read the Quran and Hadith. Learn Arab language to improve our understanding of the Quran. Find a reputable teacher. Go overseas to learn. We must make Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w.) as our main hero, learn about him and follow his teachings and practices, make para Sahabat and other Islamic scholars as heroes also instead of idolising popular singers and actors. Uphold the sunnah and refrain from indulging in so called Islamic practices which have been corrupted by Malay tradition(adab Melayu) and which have no strong backing from Hadith(shahih).

All these, I've gathered from the speakers. Alhamdulillah!(All praises to Allah Almighty)..Wassalaam

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About Me

Someone who's just trying to be a better Muslim. THE KEY in searching for the TRUTH is to keep an OPEN MIND, AVOID bad assumptions and REFRAIN from being fanatic. THE BASIS of perception TOWARDS ALL past and present scholars is to THINK POSITIVELY towards them and render GOOD ASSUMPTIONS. NOT to judge before knowing them IN DEPTH. Enlightenment is NOT ONLY through gathering knowledge for oneself, but the ability to also ENLIGHTEN OTHERS